MARIANI’S
Virtual
Gourmet
"Cabbages"
(1936) By Polly Thayer
❖❖❖ IN THIS ISSUE Mom-And-Pop Need To
Be
Heard In Washington SIRIO MACCIONI, R.I.P. By John Mariani NEW YORK CORNER LOVE AND PIZZA CHAPTER FIVE By John Mariani NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR WINES FOR SPRINGTIME'S BOUNTY By John Mariani ❖❖❖ Mom-And-Pop Need To Be Heard In Washington About The Future of Restaurants in America By John Mariani If Rezdora, one of the big hits of 2019 in NYC, re-opens it will have to cut at least 30% of its few seats to maintain social distancing.
The White House has announced the creation of “economic revival industry groups,” drawing on more than 200 “executives, economists, scholars, and industry leaders” for advice on their industries’ future during the coronavirus crisis. Among the food and beverage group, by far the majority of members come from major restaurant chains, industry associations and food and drink manufacturers, plus a handful of celebrity chefs that include Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller and Jean-Georges Vongerichten, all of whom are partners in smaller worldwide chains. The big corporate advisers include McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy (left), Subway CEO John Chidsey, Papa John’s CEO Rob Lynch, Waffle House CEO Walt Ehmer, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and several others. Missing from the group are the small restaurateurs, the Mom-and-Pop eateries most crippled by the pandemic’s effects on the economy. According to CHD Expert data service, as of October 2017, there were more than 480,900 independent restaurants in the United States (CHD Expert defines an independent as a foodservice enterprise with fewer than 10 units), making up 68% of the total restaurant landscape; by comparison, there are more than 231,400 chain restaurants representing 32% of the restaurant business. The imbalance is striking, with independent restaurants making up more than two-thirds of the industry having no input whatsoever when it comes to their post-pandemic future. Clearly they are the backbone and, it might be argued, the heart and soul of America’s food service industry, the kind of restaurants and restaurateurs whose profit margins are low, with 90% of gross income going to employees, vendors and rent, and face-to-face relationships with their customers high. They are the restaurants that created the food dishes that became the models for the big chains’ menus. The New York Times has reported estimates that 75 percent of the independent restaurants that have been closed to protect Americans from the coronavirus won’t make it back. Large restaurant companies have deeper pockets and can hold out longer, even if their restaurants are closed. They also have easier access to banks with regards to paying off debt and getting new loans. Mom-and-Pop stores have little recourse in such matters, even if banks and landlords are lenient. Indeed, there was a vociferous outcry by independent restaurateurs when Ruth's Chris Steakhouse chain and Shake Shack received, respectively, $20 million and $10 million from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), causing Shake Shack partner to return the money, with partner Danny Meyer announcing, “we’ve decided to immediately return the entire $10 million” so restaurants that “need it most can get it now." (The PPP aid was supposed to go only to restaurants with less than 500 employees, but a loophole allowed individual units of a national chain with less than 500 to apply.) “We are very fortunate to own the building our restaurant is in,” says veteran New York restaurateur Ken Aretsky (below), who with his wife Diana runs Patroon, now 25 years old. “We just got funding from the Payroll Protection Program,” says Diana, “but it must be used for that purpose. We still have a mortgage and still have to pay taxes.” If Patroon re-opens hiring back 80 former personnel will be near impossible until the business comes back, which she says could take a year or more. But it is in the laying off of employees—among the worst paid in any industry, with minimum wage a base for many and medical benefits not often provided that the real suffering occurs. Restaurant employees are a transient lot even in good times, when restaurants are doing banner business, finding good people to fill jobs is daunting. But the core of those who work long hours six days a week both behind and in front of the house are dedicated and become like family to the owners. This camaraderie can certainly exist within individual franchises of corporate chain restaurants, but decisions on firings, closings and re-assignment are done at the higher management levels with little regard for employees’ welfare. Chains can shift some workers to other units; independent restaurateurs usually cannot. For these reasons, and because their needs and requirements are very different from those of corporate groups, the independent restaurateurs need to be heard from in Washington. They are the ones most in need of help, not a company like Subway with 40,000 locations, McDonald’s with 38,000 or Starbucks with 31,000. Mom-and-Pop restaurants are also the ones that keep the specialty food market going by buying the kind of ingredients chain restaurants do not, especially when it comes to the artisan food industry that supplies everything from cheeses and vegetables to meat and fish never seen on chain menus. Chains do not buy free-range chickens, line-caught fish, heirloom potatoes, small estate wines or small batch liquors, which is how independent restaurants distinguish themselves from the mass feeding places. One farmer in Louisiana may supply only a half dozen restaurants with his salad greens; a raiser of lamb in Vermont may only service ten restaurants in New England and New York; a country ham producer in North Carolina may have only local accounts.
Clearly these hard-working
people need federal help, and the
federal government needs their help in deciding
how to navigate the raging
storm upon us. Restaurants are wonderful places to
go to and enjoy ourselves,
and they are a vital part of every community, but
Mom and Pop will vanish from
the scene if they are not heard from, and helped. ONE OF THE WORLD'S GREAT RESTAURATEURS, SIRIO MACCIONI, PASSES AWAY AT 88 By John Mariani
Sirio Maccioni, the Tuscan-born
restaurateur
best known for his New York restaurant Le
Cirque, died April 19 at his home in
Montecatini Terme, Italy, after a long period of
failing health (unrelated to
Covid-19). NEW
YORK CORNER
By
John Mariani LOVE AND PIZZA Since, for the time being, I am unable to write about or review New York City restaurants, I have decided instead to print a serialized version of my (unpublished) novel Love and Pizza, which takes place in New York and Italy and involves a young, beautiful Bronx woman named Nicola Santini from an Italian family impassioned about food. As the story goes on, Nicola, who is a student at Columbia University, struggles to maintain her roots while seeing a future that could lead her far from them—a future that involves a career and a love affair that would change her life forever. So, while New York’s restaurants remain closed, I will run a chapter of the Love and Pizza each week until the crisis is over. Afterwards I shall be offering the entire book digitally. I hope you like the idea and even more that you will love Nicola, her family and her friends. I’d love to know what you think. Contact me at loveandpizza123@gmail.com —John Mariani To read previous chapters go to archive (beginning with March 29, 2020, issue. LOVE AND PIZZA Cover Art By Galina Dargery © John Mariani, 2020
CHAPTER FIVE
Nicola’s
first two years at
Columbia passed quickly and her reputation as
a fine student only increased by
the time she was a junior. Her
devotion to her studies was as fulfilling as
it was all-consuming. What
with the class work and visits to
the art museums of New York, she had little
time for much else, which included
applying the kind of light makeup her sisters
said she needed to bring out her
best features.
“At least use some
eyeliner,”
her sister Natalie would implore her. “You’ve
got beautiful eyes already, so
enhance them a little.” Then
their
mother would say, “Enough with the makeup.
Nicky is more beautiful without it.”
Nicola didn't give much thought to
makeup one way or another, though, like most
girls her age, she did have an
interest in fashion. As a teenager she read Glamour
and Mademoiselle
magazines—whose
cover models were all blonde—and, on occasion,
dipped into a copy of upper
crust Vogue
or Bazaar to see what was new for
spring or fall, though she thought
the prices of the clothes shown were
preposterous and so many of the Parisian
couture fashions outrageous. She preferred
American designers, and the Italians
who had been making such a splash in Milan in
the past few years, names like
Versace and Armani, whose clothes were always
exquisitely made from the finest
fabrics. Growing up and always being reminded of the universally acknowledged expertise of Italian tailors, Nicola had a strong sense of Italian taste imbued by her father and grandmother. In his business, Anthony knew what a perfect cut of fabric was, how the armholes should fit, how the collar should be turned, all knowledge he had gleaned from his father, whom he had watched at home trying on and discarding three or more stiff shirt collars before he chose one to wear. He also learned marketing and sales at his company. No coat maker in New York used better fabrics than Originala, all of which were imported from the best mills—Florence for silks, Milan for wool—this at a time when American women still wore shirts made of rayon and coats woven with a percentage of polyester, all of it sewn on machines, with plastic buttons and fake fur trim.
All the Santini children, even the boys, had
grown
up very well dressed—no hand-me-downs!—with
special occasion clothes for a
graduation or wedding made by hand by women
hired by Nino. Anna Santini never bought
clothes in
the stores around Belmont—the cheap leather
shoes, the heavy wool jackets with
exaggerated shoulder pads, the packages of
cheap nylon socks. For whatever was not
made for her children she
bought in New
York stores like Best & Co., Arnold
Constable, Lord & Taylor, and B.
Altman. Nino also knew a lot of
people in the industry and could get discounts
on just about anything.
Nicola
never went through a grunge
phase and thought most of the flashy disco
clothes of the 1970s just plain
cheap. Yes,
she admitted, she was
a snob about clothes, spoiled to believe in
quality rather then mere fashion.
On campus at Columbia,
Nicola’s jeans were invariably black, her
t-shirts white with blocks or
splashes of color, many of them bought at the
museum stores she frequented. Indeed,
she loved very simple graphics
on her t-shirts, something in a bold Helvetica
font with the name of the museum
on it. She
never gave any thought
to parading around in a light blue-and-white
Columbia t-shirt, which she
regarded as self-promotion. Nor did she ever
fall for the faux-military Army
and Navy store look that passed as a uniform
among both the male and female
students on campus. If she ever
wore the colors olive or khaki it was
always with a burgundy-colored wool
scarf, as the women in Italy would, and her
corduroy jeans were always
perfectly fitted to her long, slender legs,
which she kept in shape by walking
everywhere she could.
Nicola
loathed adults who wore baseball caps,
especially those hideous plastic net
ones. At
least the legions of
Yankee fans around the Bronx wore the real wool
or cotton caps, curling the
brims just so, like their favorite players did. The sight of a man wearing
a baseball cap backwards—especially
at Bella Napoli—made her cringe, and after six
p.m. Joe Bastone asked that they
be removed.
She was also
distressed by the cliché of big hair in the
1980s, splayed out from women’s
heads, frosted, with bangs, without bangs, with
sideburns and mullets. Nicola had little time or
patience for
hairstyling, usually wearing her hair in a pony
tail, and if she let it down
and shook it free, she let it cascade around her
neck and shoulders with
dramatic flourish, its shine and thickness the
envy of her sisters and of many
others in the neighborhood. Nicola
would
never admit it, but perhaps she did save those
moments of letting her
hair billow down for occasions when she thought
it would have the greatest
impact on people, especially men, who always
found the display an event worth
waiting for. Once,
in sophomore year, while
going through her serious art student phase, she
actually cut it into a kind of
shag, the kind that her favorite rock singer,
Pat Benatar, wore, a style that
did seem to require eyeliner in the bargain. Her mother and father
hated the hairdo—her grandmother just
smiled and said, “You look like a street
urchin”—and her sisters thought she
was being way too artsy for their taste.
On
campus no one paid much
attention to Nicola’s hair, and, having passed
through her cool coif moment,
she let it all grow back that summer, down her
slender neck and broad
shoulders, and again pulling it back into a
ponytail. *
* *
Despite
Nicola’s workload at
school, she still needed to make some money
working at Bella Napoli, for which
she had increasing disdain. Her
brother Tony told her that Joe Bastone was
probably going to retire soon and
that if was able to buy the restaurant, he’d
make it into a place the Santini
family could be proud of.
“I know exactly how to make the
pizzas, Nicky,” he told her one night after
she’d closed the cash
register.
“That will never change.
What will are the ingredients we’ll
buy, the cooks I get back in the
kitchen. Hell, I’m ripping out the whole thing
and doing everything brand new,
maybe a glass wall looking out on the dining
room. I’m going to do some
pastas tableside, the way they do at
those downtown places that charge a fortune for
a plate of fettuccine with
cream sauce, and we’ll have specials every day,
and Mom and Grandma are going
to give us the recipes. And I’m going to change
the stupid name—first
thing!—to Trattoria Santini. People
love that word `trattoria’ now,
and it means we can get away from the same menus
every other damn restaurant in
the neighborhood serves. Put
in a
good wine list. We’re going to bring things up
to date and make us all proud.”
“What’s this `we’ business?” asked
Nicola. “Is the whole family going to work
here?”
“Hey, they could do worse. Natalie
loves to cook, Roseanne says she’d really like
to get back to work when the
kids are a little older, and
Mom
can lend her expertise. Then
there’s
you.”
“Me?”
“You.”
“Sorry, but how do I figure in
this business plan? I’m hoping to
go to graduate school and then teach, remember?”
“Hey, what time do teachers get
off? Three o’clock?”
“Oh, so I finish my classes then I
come over to Trattoria Santini and work the cash
register till midnight,
correcting papers in the meantime?”
“Ay, don’t be ridiculous,
Nicky. You
know you're a very
smart, good looking girl. I
want
you to be, like, the `Face of Trattoria
Santini.’ You welcome people, talk
to them, bring in a classier crowd
that’ll spend some money, maybe some of those
artsy people, y’know? For sure, one thing you gotta
do for me is to get rid of these
freaking pictures of dead Yankees and put up
some really great artwork. You
know about all that stuff like
nobody’s business.”
Nicola stretched her arms, yawned
and said, “That
I’d like to do, Tony,
but I’m not sure I’m always going to be around
here. I may get a teaching job
in, I don’t know, California or
Chicago, or
I may be off on a
research project in Rome or Florence.”
Tony nodded, took her by her
shoulders and said, “Hey, Nick, you know
I want you to do whatever you want to do.
But if you do stay
here—maybe
you can teach at Columbia or N.Y.U. or
C.C.N.Y.—then maybe you can stay
connected to me, to the family, to the
neighborhood, y’know? That’s all I’m
saying.”
Nicola smiled and gave her brother
a hug and a huge loud kiss on the cheek.
“Tony, if that’s in the cards, you got
me. Just don’t bank on it.”
“I won’t, Nicky, but this is going
to something terrific. You got
your dreams, I got mine. Maybe”—putting two
fingers together—“maybe they can
mesh at some point.”
“Maybe they will, Tony. Love you,
gotta go, I still have fifty pages to read for
tomorrow’s class.” ❖❖❖
NOTES FROM THE WINE CELLAR
WINES
FOR SPRINGTIME'S BOUNTYBy John Mariani "White Asparagus" by Eduoard Manet
I’m not fond of people who serve me produce out of season, like the tasteless, sinewy asparagus people eat all year long and tomatoes that were picked in the middle of January. I therefore look forward with baited breath to what springtime brings to market, and I love nothing more than to match up wines appropriately. Now’s the time for strawberries, radishes, peas, arugula, basil, mint, fennel, morels, apricots, cherries, dandelion greens, fava beans, fiddlehead ferns, new potatoes and rhubarb to come out. (Artichokes are also in season but, despite the earnest efforts of some wine writers to match them with wines, none really work.) And spring lamb is readily available and at its best. Here are some wonderful match-ups. MacRostie Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2018 ($20)—At 14.5% alcohol, this is considerably more powerful than most Chardonnays, even from California, but, if you like this style, with pronounced oak and vanilla, this well-priced Sonoma example is your best choice for lobster with clarified butter, bluefish and soft-shell crabs. Domaine Weinbach Famille Faller Sylvaner 2017 ($25)—Grown around the Clos des Capucins in Alsace, the sylvaner grape has to be of high quality to achieve distinction, and it does in this wine. Its floral character is enchanting, its velvety feel on the palate and the good acid and dryness will go splendidly with fiddlehead ferns and minted dishes. Tenuta Regaleali Cataratto Antisa 2018 ($22)—This Sicilian medium-bodied white gives you a good blast of acid up front and the southern sun provides ripeness, all to the good for any spicy foods that contain peppers or Mediterranean spices. Tasca Perricone Guarnaccio 2017 ($15)—Very clean, pronounced balanced flavors and acid complement each other, and a burst of fruit all mean this will go with dishes that may contain balsamic vinegar, like swordfish or some other seafood. The Guarnaccio grape is fermented in stainless steel and spends 12 months in used French oak barrels, and while increasingly planted in western Sicily, it is fairly new to the market and well worth trying at this very reasonable price. Domaine de Cala Rosé 2019 ($17.50)—Chef Joachim Splichal of the Patina Restaurant Group found his ideal vineyard in Brignoles in Provence, planted with Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah and Rolle, to which he has added Carignan and Grenache Blanc to make a remarkably complex, 12.5% alcohol, stainless-aged rose that will go with spring salads, tuna, even strawberries for dessert. Dry Creek DCV Estate Block 10 Chardonnay ($34)—A more restrained Chardonnay at 13.8% alcohol, more in line with Burgundian models, this Russian River Valley wine from 18-year-old vines has a lot of creaminess, backed by pleasing acid and citrus, so that with any grilled seafood this season it will be in complete harmony with the olive oil and lemon components. Mi Sueño Syrah 2016 ($55)—Syrah is fast gaining favor in Napa Valley, where Cabernet Sauvignon rules, and this example is 100% Syrah (no other Rhone varietals), making it a singular style with admirable ripeness and the forward fruit and tangy minerality the varietal should provide. If you find morel mushrooms in the market, or pick them up in the forest, this is the wine to uncork and enjoy. Gagliole Pecchia Colli della Toscana Centrale IGT 2015 ($190 to $200)—Another fine example of how the IGT (geographically typical) appellation works at its best, for this relatively unfamiliar wine from Tuscany is remarkable for its body, boldness and soft tannins from 100% Sangiovese, making it a good match for a grilled sirloin. But it’s alcohol level is high at 15.5%, and the next day I found it had lost a good deal of its initial charm. So enjoy it all in one evening. Zenato Alanera Rosso Veronese IGT 2016 ($13)—Although pesto made with spring’s basil is a Ligurian dish, it is made all over Italy, and it is best enjoyed with a wine not too complex but still with enough tannin and bite to go with the peppery quality of the basil, garlic and pignoli nuts in the sauce. This Veronese wine will go well, and it is quite versatile as a springtime al fresco wine. For $13 it is a high achiever. Tenuta Saint’Antonio Famiglia Castagnedi Amarone della Valpolicella Selezione 2015 ($45)—Most Amarones don’t taste the way they once did, which is not necessarily a bad thing since some were oxidized on purpose. But this example has the best of the old ones. There’s a leathery flavor on the palate, good tannins and a long finish, making it a good marriage with roast pork or suckling pig. Lievland Bushvine Pinotage Paarl 2018 ($15)—Pinotage tastes nothing like any other varietal, and its best expression is in South African wines, as this shows in its assertiveness up front, the pleasant vegetal flavors and the acid that makes it wonderful with roasted baby lamb this season. Costantia Glen Three 2015 ($30)—Imitating a Bordeaux blend, this South African mix of 62% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Franc and 13% Cabernet Sauvignon gives proof of the complexity that can be achieved outside of Europe while demonstrating its own character and softness, which means it will go well with buttered peas and new potatoes. Yarden Galilee Golan Heights Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 ($27)—If you want to smell the big, bold essence of Cabernet Sauvignon, one whiff of this will tell you of its depth and a sip will give you plenty of tannin that will allow this wine to age well. Now more than three years old, it’s starting to mellow, and with Israeli/Middle Eastern dishes like hummus and other vegetable purees, as well as goat and lamb, this will make an impression.
Sponsored by ❖❖❖
Any of John Mariani's books below may be ordered from amazon.com. The Hound in Heaven (21st Century Lion Books) is a novella, and for anyone who loves dogs, Christmas, romance, inspiration, even the supernatural, I hope you'll find this to be a treasured favorite. The story concerns how, after a New England teacher, his wife and their two daughters adopt a stray puppy found in their barn in northern Maine, their lives seem full of promise. But when tragedy strikes, their wonderful dog Lazarus and the spirit of Christmas are the only things that may bring his master back from the edge of despair. WATCH THE VIDEO! “What a huge surprise turn this story took! I was completely stunned! I truly enjoyed this book and its message.” – Actress Ali MacGraw “He had me at Page One. The amount of heart, human insight, soul searching, and deft literary strength that John Mariani pours into this airtight novella is vertigo-inducing. Perhaps ‘wow’ would be the best comment.” – James Dalessandro, author of Bohemian Heart and 1906. “John Mariani’s Hound in Heaven starts with a well-painted portrayal of an American family, along with the requisite dog. A surprise event flips the action of the novel and captures us for a voyage leading to a hopeful and heart-warming message. A page turning, one sitting read, it’s the perfect antidote for the winter and promotion of holiday celebration.” – Ann Pearlman, author of The Christmas Cookie Club and A Gift for my Sister. “John Mariani’s concise, achingly beautiful novella pulls a literary rabbit out of a hat – a mash-up of the cosmic and the intimate, the tragic and the heart-warming – a Christmas tale for all ages, and all faiths. Read it to your children, read it to yourself… but read it. Early and often. Highly recommended.” – Jay Bonansinga, New York Times bestselling author of Pinkerton’s War, The Sinking of The Eastland, and The Walking Dead: The Road To Woodbury. “Amazing things happen when you open your heart to an animal. The Hound in Heaven delivers a powerful story of healing that is forged in the spiritual relationship between a man and his best friend. The book brings a message of hope that can enrich our images of family, love, and loss.” – Dr. Barbara Royal, author of The Royal Treatment. ❖❖❖
❖❖❖
FEATURED
LINKS: I am happy to report
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Gourmet is linked to four excellent
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Weekend, Diversion, Laptop and Luxury Spa Finder,
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and Elle Decor.
"I’ve designed this site is for people who take
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Eating Las Vegas
JOHN CURTAS has been covering the Las Vegas
food and restaurant scene since 1995. He is
the co-author of EATING LAS VEGAS – The 50
Essential Restaurants (as well as
the author of the Eating Las Vegas web site: www.eatinglasvegas.
He can also be seen every Friday morning as
the “resident foodie” for Wake Up With the
Wagners on KSNV TV (NBC) Channel 3 in
Las Vegas.
MARIANI'S VIRTUAL GOURMET
NEWSLETTER is published weekly. Publisher: John Mariani. Editor: Walter Bagley. Contributing Writers: Christopher Mariani,
Robert Mariani, Misha Mariani, John A. Curtas, Gerry Dawes, Geoff Kalish,
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